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Monday, 31 December 2012

Do The Right Thing

It started as a simple question on Saturday night; “If your
club had a player shown two yellow cards, but no red, would you expect them to
do the right thing and walk?”

The responses I
received were very interesting and once you put aside those comments driven by
football rivalries i.e. applying it to the case in hand rather than, as I asked,
if it was their club’s player, they showed a lack of belief in fairness and
sportsmanship in football. The general tone being; If officials don’t do their
jobs properly then why shouldn’t players/teams exploit it? On Saturday, gamesmanship
took over from sportsmanship, a majority of fans who responded seemed happy
with that precedence.

For me, it doesn’t sit right, but I can see where they are
coming from. Taking Saturday’s incidents at the John Smith’s Stadium as the
example, Sheffield Wednesday’s Jeremy Helan received his second yellow card
after 20 minutes. In effect, Huddersfield
Town should have had a man advantage it what proved to be a tight Derby tussle
for around 70 minutes. You could argue that the referee’s failure had a
significant influence on the potential outcome of the game and Huddersfield’s anger
was understandable.

However, I guess there are incidents like that in every
game, where the outcome changes on one decision. Be it an incorrect offside
call, a handball that is missed, or the Stuart Atwell goal incident at Watford,
the official are potentially culpable in determining the outcome of game. Many
of the responses on Saturday night, including several from Terriers supporters
took this view. The referee has made a mistake, by all means complain, but if
he refuses to reverse his decision or acknowledge his mistake, move on and get
on with the game.

What makes Saturday’s situation even worse was that there
was a fourth official and two assistant referees who witnessed the decisions.
The fourth official in particular was the recipient of Simon Grayson’s ire and
that of his coaching staff. What stopped him realising the mistake. For one
official to get a decision wrong is one thing, for it to be compounded by the
failure of three others is something quite unbelievable.

So Saturday and the response of fans afterwards tells me
that we are quite happy to accept gamesmanship when the officials fail in their
duties. That we are content to watch players shuffle away with a wry grin, for benefiting
managers to pass it off post match in interviews. The very same manager who for
the last couple of months has done nothing but complain about unfair refereeing
decisions as his side went on a long and fruitless winless run.

That end of the last paragraph isn’t meant as a dig at the
manager involved on Saturday. I can think of many managers who would have done
the same, including those who have stood on the Bramall Lane touchline.

Maybe I am foolishly hoping for a utopian footballing world
where sportsmanship actually wins over. Where the player voluntarily walks off
to the tunnel, knowing the incorrect decision has been made. Where his manager wouldn’t
condemn him for his action, but acknowledge the claims of opposition manager
and fans and tells his player to come off. But hey, as someone pointed out on
Saturday night, it’s just not cricket. Or Snooker. Or Rugby. Or other sports where you see sporting
acknowledgement of incorrect decisions of those that the referee/umpire misses.
Not always, I grant you, but it is still a more frequent event than at a
football match.

I can think of few occasions when sportsmanship has stood
out over gamesmanship in football; Di Canio catching the ball as Everton
goalkeeper lay injured and the empty goal was beckoning in December 2000, some
may suggest the Arsenal offer of a replay to the Blades following Marc Overmars’
controversial goal in the 1999 cup tie, but I beg to differ. Arsenal could have
let United equalise and then play on the rest of the match with the scores
level, as they were prior to the goal. The offer of a replay benefited Arsenal
as much with home advantage, gate receipts etc.

More recent examples show that when advantage has been
gained, the benefiting team rarely recognise their advantageous stretching of
fair play and there is little the officials could do. Ask Nordsjaelland or even
Sheffield Wednesday themselves. The fact that so few stand up for fair play,
seems to make it less and less likely other teams will set the example,
particularly when they have suffered an injustice previously.

Maybe football could try and set new standards. Maybe
Reading players should have admitted to Stuart Attwell that the “ghost goal” he
awarded them in 2008 was nowhere near the Watford goal. Maybe the Shakhtar
Donetsk players and management together should have acknowledged that Luiz
Adriano’s goal was out of order and properly stood aside for Nordsjaelland to
score from the kick off, instead of being split on what they should do. Maybe
the Yeovil players last season should have stood aside to allow Wednesday to score;
their player manager was on the pitch and could have instigated it. Maybe
Jeremy Helan should have walked off the pitch on Saturday. Instead he lingered,
saw the red card hadn’t followed and sheepishly shrugged and walked back into
position. Maybe his manager should have
hauled him off, or supported Simon Grayson’s claims to the fourth official.

And maybe football won’t. In fact I know it won’t. Football over
the last 20 years has been corrupted by money, to a greater extent than any
other sport. Money places enormous pressure on managers and players. Pressure
to win, pressure to succeed whatever the cost, every point and every place has
a huge financial reward. Morals are marginalised and a generation of fans see
the boundaries of acceptable behaviour stretched, more so if the officials and
authorities are inept at dealing with those incidents when they occur.

Do you
know what? In a year of depressing incidents in football, that makes me a
little sadder and a little more disillusioned with the game. I doubt 2013 will
do much to change my view.